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Functional material design can be enhanced by taking inspiration from nature. This Primer describes how micropatterns inspired by the natural world can be designed, fabricated and used to solve technical challenges.

Spider silk adhesion is reliant on sticky droplets composed of glycoproteins surrounded by an aqueous coat. Sahni and co-workers show that these droplets behave as viscoelastic solids that enable large, rate-dependent adhesive forces capable of trapping fast- and slow-moving prey.

The complex shapes of biological tissues are often formed as a result of stress modulations. Wu et al.exploit such behaviour experimentally and theoretically to demonstrate a new mechanism of the formation of three-dimensional structures that is driven by engineered small-scale stresses within patterned hydrogel sheets.

The topographical features of insect wings result in some interesting surface properties, including hydrophobicity and antibacterial activity. Here the authors identify the surface of black silicon as a mimic of dragonfly wings and show that it too possesses antibacterial activity.

Microfluidic 3D cell culture platforms may serve as tools for the modelling of human tissues. This Review discusses the design, standardization and automation of such systems for non-clinical drug evaluation and investigation of disease.

Despite the enormous progress in the field of giant lipid vesicles, their use for in vivo biomedical applications is limited. Here, the authors discuss red blood cells as inspiration for enhancing those vesicles, investigating the required cellular features and the corresponding technical hurdles.

The cis-peptide bond is rare in natural proteins and its impact on protein folding is elusive. Here the authors break the conventional understanding that cis-amide-favoring residues destabilize proteins, elucidate the principles of peptoid cis-trans isomerization in collagen folding, and showcase the use of cis-amide-favoring residues in building programmable and functional peptidomimetics.

A study describes the development of a miniaturized hydrogel-based soft power source capable of modulating the activity of networks of neuronal cells without the need for metal electrodes.

An implantable bioartificial kidney with a cell-containing bioreactor could be used to treat end-stage renal disease. Here the authors demonstrate the feasibility of an implantable bioreactor by maintaining human cell viability and functionality after implantation in a xenograft model.

Liposomes are indispensable model membranes and drug carriers. Here, the authors use DNA nanostructures to coat, cluster, and pattern sub-100-nm liposomes, enabling attachment of proteins and temporal control of membrane fusion.

In this work, the authors synthetized hydrogels that mimic cryptic sites in the native extracellular matrix (ECM) using switch peptides. They report how in response to enzymes on the surface of endothelial cells the inert matrix is transformed into a bioadhesive synthetic ECM.

Active targeting and cytosolic delivery of therapeutic payloads are challenging in small extracellular vesicle-based drug delivery systems. Here, the authors engineer fusogen and targeting moiety co-functionalized cell-derived nanovesicles, which can selectively bind to target cells and efficiently fulfill cytosolic delivery through membrane fusion.

Transmembrane signaling is the core adaptation in nature that allows cells to communicate. Here, the authors engineer signaling through the lipid bilayer using chemical, synthetic receptors for their use in the design of artificial cells.

The biomimicry of animals’ appendage repurposing can be applied to robot designs, resulting in unparalleled capabilities. Sihite et al. report a Multi-Modal Mobility Morphobot (M4) that negotiate unstructured, multi-substrate environments, including land and air, by employing its components in different ways as wheels, thrusters, and legs.

A study describes a wood-based, three-tailed, biodegradable seed carrier that self-drills into the ground in response to moisture fluctuations with a success rate higher than that of natural self-drilling seeds.

Protoissues have received a lot of attention for studying cell interaction and for biomedical engineering. Here, the authors demonstrate a high-throughput, bottom-up approach to assemble spatial programmable prototissues based on the magnetic Archimedes affect and demonstrate biomedical application for producing NO for vasodilation.

Understanding host responses to Herpes simplex virus (HSV) in humans is challenging. Here the authors report a vascularised 3D ‘skin-on-chip’ that mimics human skin architecture and is competent to immune-cell and drug perfusion; they use this to model HSV infection.

Proinflammatory macrophages are involved in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Here the authors use an efferocytosis-mimetic self-deliverable nanoimitator to mitigate RA by targeted reprogramming of synovial inflammatory macrophages, reducing proinflammatory cytokines and reinstating articular immune homeostasis.

Boron neutron capture therapy is a type of cancer therapy but is associated with insufficient boron delivery and with poor biocompatibility. Here, the authors constructed boronated lipids to generate - boronsome - and show the system can reduce tumour growth.

A human intestine-on-a-chip lined by intestinal epithelium derived from patients with environmental enteric dysfunction and cultured in nutrient-deficient medium recapitulates essential features of intestinal dysfunction associated with the disease.

Post-translationally modified histones are recognized by effector proteins which contain specific binding modules; for example, the bromodomain-containing BET proteins bind acetylated lysine residues during gene activation. Here a synthetic small molecule is described that interferes with the binding of certain BET family members to acetylated histones. The compound inhibits activation of pro-inflammatory genes in macrophages and has activity in a mouse model of inflammatory disease.

In this manuscript, an electric-field-assisted self-assembly technique that can allow controllable and scalable fabrication of 3-dimensional block copolymer (BCP)-based artificial cell membranes (3DBCPMs) immobilized on predefined locations is presented.

Topographically and chemically structured microwell array templates facilitate uniform patterning of BCPs and serve as reactors for the effective growth of 3DBCPMs, which diverse shapes, sizes and stability can be tuned by modulating the BCP concentration and the amplitude/frequency of the electric field.

The potential of 3DBCPMs for a variety of biological applications is highlighted by performance of in vitro protein-membrane assays and mimicking of human intestinal organs.

Synthetic transcriptional repressors are engineered from natural DNA-binding domains.

A bacteriogenic strategy for constructing membrane-bounded, molecularly crowded, and compositionally, structurally and morphologically complex synthetic cells provides opportunities for the fabrication of new synthetic cell modules and augmented living/synthetic cell constructs.

The clinical application of magnetic hyperthermia therapy (MHT) is limited by the poor magnetic-to-thermal conversion efficiency of MHT agents. Here, the authors develop encapsulin-produced magnetic iron oxide nanocomposites (eMIONs) with excellent magnetic-heat capability and catalysis-triggered tumor suppression ability to overcome the critical issues of MHT.

Tissue chips with matured human heart, liver, bone and skin tissue niches linked by recirculating vascular flow recapitulate interdependent functions of these organs.

Artificial nanopores can perform selective gating of molecules analogous to transmembrane proteins. Here, the authors design a DNA origami pore with a controllable lid for size-selective gating and translocation of macromolecules and evaluate its biosensing properties by single particle assay.

Peptoids are promising crystallization agents, as they offer the molecular recognition capabilities of proteins and peptides but with higher stability and synthetic tunability. Here, the authors show that sequence-defined peptoids can controllably template the formation and shape evolution of gold nanostructures with defined morphologies.

Insect-like biomimetic compound eyes have many technological applications. Here, the authors present a facile fabrication scheme involving microfluidics assisted 3D printing that permits to completely separate design, optimization and construction of optical and sensor components.

The design of artificial organelles for applications in living cells faces several challenges such as cellular uptake, stability and biocompatibility. Now, fusion of exosomes creates beneficial nanoreactors and their use for compartmentalized biocatalytic cascade reactions in cells is demonstrated.

Colour changes in response to external stimuli are common in nature, from turkey skin to butterfly wings. Here, inspired by this behaviour, the authors have developed a sensor capable of providing an individual colour response to specific target chemicals using genetically engineered viruses.

Suspension-feeding fish, such as goldfish and whale sharks, retain prey without clogging their oral filter. Using a cross-step filtration model based on fish morphology, Sanderson et al. show how vortices generated by this design could trap and transport particles even smaller than the filter pores.

Cryopreservation is the method of choice for extending the lifespan of biological samples, although high concentrations of potentially toxic additives are required. Here, the authors show that polymers that mimic antifreeze proteins can enhance cell cryopreservation at only 0.1 wt% concentration.

Gramicidin A pores are important natural structures for the transport of ions through biological membranes. Here, the authors show that this functionality can be mimicked using an artificial transmembrane channel formed of synthetic pore-forming compounds.

The hierarchical structural motifs of biomaterials can lead to advantageous mechanical properties. Here, the authors reveal that a fibre-like helical structure across the shell of a planktonic pteropod suppresses crack propagation and is responsible for a high fracture resistance.

The impact of photo-damage on natural photosynthetic systems is lessened through their autonomous self-repair, and now a synthetic photoelectrochemical complex that mimics this behaviour has been developed. It is shown that a series of regeneration steps, driven by chemical signalling, increases the photo-conversion efficiency of the system and extends its lifetime indefinitely.

The self-assembly of haemoglobin-containing erythrocyte membrane fragments onto the surface of preformed coacervates has been used to make hybrid synthetic cells that can initiate nitric-oxide-induced vasodilation. These synthetic cells encapsulate enzymes that generate a flux of nitric oxide, as well as exhibiting high haemocompatibility and increased blood circulation times.